Not Wetzel's Pretzels

There are very few wine experiences that rival a full bodied and complex Cabernet Sauvignon.  The numerous nuances that excite the senses are so enjoyable that, once experienced, it's not easy to accept something less.

Of course, I have to check myself sometimes to see if I'm falling into a trap of equating a full bodied Cabernet with an equally full bodied price range.  I'm sure you would agree, it's not often that a truly enjoyable Cabernet is found say, under $10 per bottle.  By enjoyable, I don't mean just acceptable.  I mean truly enjoyable with complexity, depth, and a fantastic food-friendly finish. 

This is my quest: to find a wine such as this within this price range. 

Part of this curiosity drove me to buy a couple of bottles of Alexander Valley Wetzel Vineyard Cabernet - 2006 and 2007. 

Well, they were on sale at Von's and I figured, how could I go wrong at $9 per bottle? 

Okay, I cut to the chase.  The wines weren't bad.  The 2006 was light but pleasant with just enough tannin to go well with the spaghetti we were eating.  There wasn't much depth or complexity to the wine.  It was soft, with some nice floral and earthy tones, some light berrie nuances, and a slightly bitter (but not unpleasant) finish that actually worked nicely with the sauce.

The 2007 was a bit better.  I still have half a bottle left.  I opened it last night with some Cajun grilled salmon and a romaine salad topped with an Italian dressing.  It worked just fine with this meal. 

The wine was light, but so is Salmon.  With the Cajun spices on the salmon, the wine was able to meet the dish halfway and actually compliment the meal nicely.  I'm not sure if the wine would have held up to something more robust, such as a New York steak, but it was a decent pairing.

A light Cabernet with a light meal.  Is it possible?  Yes, and it worked.  But I don't think I could have planned it if not first tasting the 2006 and figuring that the 2007 couldn't be much different.  I was right.  The meal was delicious.  The wine was just the right fit and the price was right. 

Not bad.

Not bad at all.

Cheers!

Fantastic Wine in Santa Barbara

I'm an optimistic skeptic. I’m also a creature of habit. When I find something I like, I latch onto it and sometimes, prematurely I admit, discount things that I’ve not tried yet. Like going to Temecula and assuming that the wines will be as unsatisfying as a previous experience only to find that there are some great wines being produced in that area or assuming that the tasting rooms north of Santa Barbara in the Los Olivos and Santa Ynez areas must be showcasing better wines than would be found in a tasting room located in downtown Santa Barbara.  Or downtown anywhere, for that matter.  What is visiting a winery if you're not winding your way up a hill to a fantastic building with a spacious and elaborate tasting room?

Yeah, I have my moments of being ridiculous.

Enter my trip to Santa Barbara last Saturday. I wanted to try new wine and pulled up a map of tasting rooms in the city. I then looked up each winery on Wine Spectator and decided to start with the winery that had the highest ratings. I was the only reference point I had at the moment and seemed like a fine place to start, however arbitrary.  I’m going to use this approach again.

I drove on Milpas Street and turned on Montecito. About a block ahead on the right, I found Jaffurs Winery.

If the roll-up warehouse door had been closed and had I not seen a pretty small sign on the wall, I might have assumed this to be some generic business operating in a fairly non-descript stucco building. But my quest was wine. And Wine Spectator says these are really good wines.

They are really good wines. I think they are great wines. I think Jaffurs has a new fan.

My tasting started with the 2008 Grenache Blanc. This was only the second time I’d tried such a wine, the first being the night before at Vinatero’s in Whittier. One sip and I wanted to taste more. I was hooked. I figured that, if Jaffurs could do a Grenache Blanc that was so soft and silky, with a finish lingering several seconds on my tongue, what did the rest of these wines taste like!

Well, the 2008 Viognier was a lovely white with a beautiful balance of bright acidity and peach. That’s what I got from it anyway. Then I moved on to the reds.

The 2007 Grenache is fabulous, one of the more highly structured and complex that I’ve tasted anywhere. This wine is so delicately balanced while being a full bodied wine that I started to get hungry… but tasted more wine instead. The talented and friendly folks at Jaffurs poured a taste of the 2007 Mourvedre and I was quickly looking around for a BBQ putting the fire to beef ribs. A touch of Syrah added a slight but mouth-watering touch of black pepper on the finish. Yum.

Next I tasted a couple of the Syrahs, starting with the 2008 Santa Barbara County Syrah and moving on to the 2007 Larner Vineyard Syrah. Folks, these are great wines. I struck up conversations just to make the tastings last as long as I could. These wines are powerful but not overpowering. They are so elegantly balanced that I could keep drinking them until I became elegantly wasted. I mean that in the most affectionate terms.

Finally, I my tasting finished with the 2008 Petite Sirah, a single-vineyard wine (as is the Larner Vineyard Syrah). I find it cliché and almost piteous almost to say that this was the best Petite Sirah I’ve ever had…. Truly. It was the best Petite Sirah I’ve ever had. The deep and bold fruit flat out morphed into a fantastically rich and tannic finish while dark spice flavors nestled their way deep into my taste buds and wouldn’t let go. This culminated one of the most enjoyable tasting experiences I’ve had.

But it isn’t just the wine that made the experience enjoyable. The good folks at Jaffurs are very willing to talk about their operations and exhibit a passion derived from being directly involved in every phase of their little company, albeit one that makes big and beautiful wines. I found them to be gracious and very hospitable when answering questions and sharing the passion and enjoyment of their craft.

I left with a smile on my face and a lingering sense that Jaffurs is a winery poised for greatness. I drove out of the small parking lot, not down a winding road through green hills and vineyard-laden landscapes, but merely turned left on Montecito and then a right on Milpas on my way back to the 101 freeway. It was almost surreal. For a little over an hour, I was transported by my encounter with fine folks who make great wine and love what they do almost as much as they love seeing others enjoy their wines.

I’m going back.

Cheers!

The Terrific Tastes of Temecula

Yesterday, on a cloudy Wednesday morning in Los Angeles, my wife and I decided to go wine-tasting in Temecula, located about 100 or so miles east of where we live. I don't have the exact number but I believe there are between 30 and 50 wineries there. It's the closest collection of wineries to Los Angeles next to Santa Barbara and up the coast of California.

We visited Temecula a few years ago and tasted some wine... and didn't like it. I don't remember what vineyards we visited but I concluded that, unless they figure out better farming techniques or hire better winemakers, they're not going to be selling much more than something slightly more flavorful than 2-buck chuck.

Maybe we visited the wrong wineries back then.

Yesterday, after a stop for lunch at Miguel's JR in Corona, we visited three wineries: Leonesse, La Cereza, and Mount Palomar.

La Cereza did not impress us, although we may have offended them when we asked to taste only one wine instead of the whole lineup.  I suggested they recommend the wine and they served a Cabernet in a plastic cup that was priced around $24 but tasted like something we'd find for about $5 at the grocery store. It was wimpy and absent of just about any character. It wasn't 'bad' tasting, just not very good.  A side note to La Cereza - even if someone asks for a freebie, give it to them in a nice glass.  You never know what they're going to do with that experience.

Not the same for Leonesse and Mount Palomar.

We first stopped at Leonesse and paid $12 for 6 tastings, which we shared. We started with the 2008 Viognier and 2007 Vineyard Selection Chardonnay for starters. Both are yummy wines with the Vionier having surprising body and boldness. The Chardonnay is oaky and filled with pineapple and melon nuances.

So far, so good.

We moved on to the reds. So much for my Temecula history! Leonesse definitely knows what they are doing. We chose to taste the 2006 Meritage, a Merlot-based wine that manages to be bold and delicate at the same time with a wonderful cherry finish wrapped in soft tannins. It reminded me of some of the finer blends coming out of the Paso Robles area. The 2007 Zinfandel was probably our least favorite but more on that later. The 2006 Syrah was pleasingly complex with a nice balance of dark fruit and, one my favorite characteristics found in a good syrah - black and white pepper. Although the tasting notes only identify the black pepper, I personally tasted white as well. The 2007 Syrah was a younger version of the 2006 but with similarly pleasant flavors.

At this point, the kind folks behind the tasting bar broke out their 2007 Vineyard Selection Syrah and the 2007 Vineyard Selection Zinfandel. Both are single vineyard wines. The Syrah was an elegant and bold wine laced with black cherry, chocolate, blackberry, and a fantastically soft finish. It's also got a bit more alcohol than the cellar selection Syrah tasted earlier. This wine should age nicely but can drink nicely now - I recommend decanting.

The 2007 Vineyard Selection Zinfandel was more to our liking than the cellar selection mentioned earlier. We both agreed that the cellar selection was a decent Zinfandel but it didn't blow our minds like the Vineyard Selection did. This wine just jumps from the glass with cherry, cola, coffee, clove and nutmeg nuances... all the fruit and spiciness I've come to love in a yummy Zinfandel.

Before I move on, one more note - the folks at Leonesse are clearly exited about their wines and passionate about their customers enjoying the experience. It's a fun place to visit and it's in a beautiful location. If we didn't have places to go and things to do, we could have stayed all afternoon.

But we did move on... detouring at La Cereza before landing at Mount Palomar - a rustic winery that looks as if it's all set for a party with live music and free flowing vino for all!

Our tastings began with their 2006 Sangiovese - a medium bodied wine that was loaded with cherry flavors and a nice finish. We followed this with the 2005 Trovato, a Tuscan style wine that was quite complex and yummy. The Trovato left me wanting for a place of spaghetti with Italian sausage and a robust tomato sauce. Are you hungry yet?

The 2006 Meritage was 50% Merlot and very pleasant to drink. At this point, it was my wife's favorite at Mount Palomar. But, of course, we moved on and tasted the 2005 Syrah - the only one on the list that left me wanting for a bit more robust flavors; although my taste buds could have been conditioned by this time. Anyway, the stars of the Mount Palomar tastings were the 2004 Cloudbreak, a Meritage style blend that was big, tannic, and cried out for a grilled T-Bone or Rib Eye steak, and the 2005 "Best of Vintage" Charbono. The Charbono, we were told, is a grape from Argentina although there is some speculation as to its origin. I'd never tasted a Charbono before and this was lovely. We both agreed that it's a wine that can be enjoyed with or without food - it's got enough backbone to hold up under some pretty bold dishes but is smooth and complex enough to enjoy by itself.

Alas, it was time to go home. We talked at some length about our experience and decided to come back. We will definitely return to Mount Palomar and Leonesse and allow for more time to visit other wineries in Temecula as well.

I imagine at one youthful time, Napa Valley and Paso Robles were poised for experimentation and probably some trial and error along the way before blossoming into wine regions with their own identities. Temecula will get there. If Leonesse and Mount Palomar are any indication, they are well on their way.